Jeffrey Brown:
President Trump has referred critically to what he calls woke programming, and mentioned: “We did not like what they have been exhibiting.”
On his TRUTH Social, he wrote: “Simply final yr, the Kennedy Middle featured drag reveals particularly concentrating on our youth. It will cease.”
The middle has introduced drag occasions, a tiny share of its annual programming. In reality, the Kennedy Middle, with constituent organizations, together with the Nationwide Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Nationwide Opera, has usually introduced the world’s main artists for many years.
Its Millennium Stage provides free performances each day by native, nationwide and worldwide artists. In 2019, it expanded its campus and choices with the opening of The REACH, a collection of efficiency and rehearsal areas. However now some distinguished artists are staying away.
Instantly following President Trump’s strikes, Kennedy Middle inventive advisers Renee Fleming and Ben Folds resigned from their positions. TV producer Shonda Rhimes, appointed by President Obama, abruptly left her place as treasurer. Performers, together with actress-comedian Issa Rae and musician Rhiannon Giddens, canceled upcoming reveals.
And the hit manufacturing “Hamilton,” which was beforehand performed on the Kennedy Middle, introduced it could not return as deliberate in 2026. “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Vendor posted: “The latest purge flies within the face of the whole lot this nationwide middle represents.”
At his latest journey to the middle, President Trump responded to the “Hamilton” announcement.
